The NC Sea Grant (NCSG) Community Collaborative Research Grant (CCRG) program seeks to address priority coastal issues in the state by strategically linking local ecological knowledge sources with academic experts in the field. For the FY 2025 solicitation, 17 applications were received proposing over $1.4 million worth of work. This remains the highest ever number of applications for the CCRG program. KIETS Associate Director Raj Narayan serves on the CCRG review and selection committee.
Projects underway include the following:
- David Cerino, Carteret Community College, Utilizing Advanced Technology for Automated Plankton Sampling and Counting in Hatcheries;
- Joel Fodrie, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, DNA Detectives: Working with Local Charter Fishermen to Understand Shark Depredation Events in North Carolina;
- Kathryn Stevenson, North Carolina State University, Supporting Community-Driven Resilience Education and Research (partnered with the Kenan Fellows Program);
- Lisa Satterwhite, Duke University, Community-led Validation of a Remote Sensing and Deep Learning Approach to Identify Cyanobacteria Harmful Algal Blooms and Toxins in the Chowan River and Tributaries of the Albemarle Sound.
The CCRG program continued to invite collaborations with the Kenan Fellows Program for Teacher Leadership as well as the KIETS Climate Leaders Program to more systematically align with KIETS initiatives and priorities. This was successful as both a currently funded project by PI Stevenson and a new project, that builds off of it, are based on a leveraged partnership with the Kenan Fellows Program. NCSG-WRRI provided $53,937 in direct support of the five new projects from the 24-25 RFP. The four new projects from the most recent RFP reported $49,784 in provided match. Sea Grant staff also provided in-kind support through staff salary of $34,640.